andrew boniwell | toronto

selected music ...

StopStart | 1999

Release NoticeJazz pianist/composer Andrew Boniwell has released his debut CD entitled StopStart on Soundcolour Records. Eight original compositions are performed by a quartet consisting of the leader on piano/keyboard, Shawn Nykwist - tenor/soprano saxophone, Stuart Steinhart - six string electric bass and Mike McClelland - drums. The compositions vary in texture (minimalist to high density) and rhythmic organization and range all over the emotional landscape. As played by the quartet these compositions are rich and challenging vehicles for improvisations that invoke the essential spirit of jazz.

Tracks

StopStart [10:02]

Don't Stop There [7:17]

Two Piece Suite - Part 1 [3:12]

Two Piece Suite - Part 2 [5:50]

Slipstream [8:07]

Sleeping Giant [7:25]

King's Tragedy (intro) [7:05]

King's Tragedy [11:18]

StopStart | Haikus

StopStart | Reviews

ReviewsThe quirky, moody dispositions of the ANDREW BONIWELL Quartet mark StopStart (Soundcolour Records SoundColour 001). The title track inspired by Bill Frisell and Carla Bley had odd lines that sniggle and snake their way out of the soprano saxophone, the passage dark and somble, backlit by piano which retains the ambience though the touch is not as heavy. The shifting patterns of Don't Stop There make for some unexpected but welcome moves. The final piece King's Tragedy is sprightly and has a zest the other compositions do not. And while words and the music may make strange bedfellows, the foursome revel in free terrain letting the music flow out of their veins, inventing the next move and getting it all together.
 Coda Magazine: The Journal of Jazz and Improvised Music, Issue 294 Nov/Dec 2000

Toronto's Andrew Boniwell has been playing piano since 1980, so his debut CD is due. His eight forward-looking, challenging originals make effective use of contrast and a different group sound. Shawn Nykwist on tenor and soprano, electric bassist Stu Steinhart and drummer Mike McClelland are responsive to Boniwell's prodding, unexpected comping on piano and keys and oblique piano chops on the "King's Tragedy" two-parter. "Don't Stop There" and the two elements of "Two Piece Suite" are spacy explorations of texture, dynamics and persistently unconventional harmony. It doesn't always work, but it's never less than interesting.
 Geoff Chapman, The Toronto Star: Nov 27, 1999